


There Used to be a Monster Under My Bed

by EmpressCirque



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Horror, Monsters, Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 16:26:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4107439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmpressCirque/pseuds/EmpressCirque
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There used to be a monster under my bed. One Shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There Used to be a Monster Under My Bed

**Author's Note:**

> Originally this work was posted to my first AO3 account, but I have since moved to this one.

There used to be a monster under my bed.

I say used to because earlier today my bed frame broke; a combination of cheap, dry wood and age seem to be the culprits, but I could care less. It was hard not to act happy about the accident, after all, cheap or not, the bed frame still cost a good chunk of cash and as a recent college graduate, cash is hard to come by. I was happy though. Without that frame, there is no under the bed. With no under the bed, there is no monster. That conclusion seemed logical enough to me.

The thought of being monster free was exciting. No more worrying about my feet dangling over the bed, or hiding under the covers when I could feel it staring at me in the dark, its hands gripping onto the wooden baseboard as it studied me. I would not have to worry about peeing the bed, too frightened to run to the bathroom because that thing might grab me as I climbed out from under the blankets. No more praying for the sun to rise and wondering where that thing went during the long daylight hours.

With no under the bed, there was no monster. That is what I had told myself.

Still, this thought had been strange. There had always been a monster under my bed. Ever since I was a child, I could hear its ragged breath coming from the darkness and the tip-taps of its claws as it scurried around the floor below. It was smart, always staying out of sight as it waited for me to fall asleep - never there for monster checks by my parents, or showing itself when my friends stayed over.

When I told my parents, they told me there was no such thing as monsters. I tried to believe them, I did, but they could not hear what I heard. They just did not know what I knew. There was a monster under my bed.

It followed me: new house, college, or apartment. It did not matter; where I went, it would follow. My first night in my new dorm room, it climbed up the ladder to my loft and watched me as I tried to sleep. When I moved into my first apartment, I heard it pacing around my bedroom as it waited for me to enter my room that night (only to be peering out from the darkness below when I opened the door). I learned to sleep with the lights on, but the thing learned to turn them off while I slept. I tried to use a nightlight, like I had as a child, only for the thing to smash it while I was out. There was no solution that would keep me safe and I think it was getting ready to make its move.

But now it could not.

With no under the bed, there was no monster. It made sense, it really did.

I crawled into bed tonight - mattress firmly on the floor - happier than I had been in forever. I could finally sleep without that thing watching me and without its claws tip-tapping as it scurried along. I was able to sleep in the dark, no nightlights or lamps, for the first time in years. I even let my legs dangle out over the mattress and traced the cool floor with my toes.

I do not know when I finally fell asleep, but that does not matter. I heard it. That is what woke me up; it pulled me out of my unconscious state as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped onto me. Breathing. Tip-tapping. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and the goose bumps that spread on my body almost hurt due to how quickly they formed.

I tried to tell myself I was hearing things because with no under the bed, there was no monster. There could not be a monster. There was no under the bed. It just made sense. It was a rational thought. It was a logical, rational thought. That thing was gone. I was safe now.

Tears formed in my eyes as the breathing and tip-tapping continued.

My heart dropped as my ears caught the direction the noises were originating from.

I slowly looked up.

There used to be a monster under my bed.

Now it is on my ceiling.

**Author's Note:**

> My bed frame broke recently and for some reason, it made me think of this.
> 
> Written in 2014.


End file.
